UK: Anjem Choudary Charged With Supporting Islamic State

A recent BBC poll found that 45% of British Muslims believe extremist clerics who preach violence against the West are not "out of touch" with mainstream Muslim opinion.

"Allah said very clearly in the Koran 'Don't feel sorry for the non-Muslims.' So as an adult non-Muslim... if he dies in a state of disbelief then he is going to go to the hellfire... so I'm not going to feel sorry for non-Muslims." — Anjem Choudary.

"Under the Shari'ah, the false Gods that people worship instead of Allah will be removed, like democracy, freedom, liberalism, secularism etc." — Anjem Choudary.

"We are Muslims first and Muslim last. Passports are no more than travel documents. If you are born in a barn that doesn't make you a horse!!" — Anjem Choudary.

Choudary urged his followers to quit their jobs and claim unemployment benefits so that they could have more time to plot holy war against non-Muslims. He said Muslims are entitled to welfare payments because they are a form of jizya, a tax imposed on non-Muslims in countries run by Muslims... as a reminder that non-Muslims are permanently inferior and subservient to Muslims.

Choudary says he is not afraid of going to prison, which he describes as a fertile ground for gaining more converts to Islam. "If they arrest me and put me in prison..." he warned, "I will radicalize everyone in prison."

Anjem Choudary, one of the most outspoken and provocative Islamists in Britain today, has been remanded in custody, charged with the terrorism offense of encouraging people to join the Islamic State.

The charge is related to Choudary sending messages to his 32,000 social media followers, allegedly encouraging them to join the Islamic State -- the radical Sunni Islamist group that has taken control over large parts of Syria and Iraq, and has threatened to attack targets in Europe and North America.

The effort to prosecute Choudary -- well known for his relentless efforts to implement Islamic Sharia law in the UK -- indicates that the British government intends to follow through on its recent pledge to crack down on radical Islam in the country.

It remains to be seen, however, if Choudary's detention will serve as a deterrent to other Islamists in Britain. A recent BBC poll found that 45% of British Muslims believe extremist clerics who preach violence against the West are not "out of touch" with mainstream Muslim opinion.

Choudary was originally arrested in September 2014 during police raids in London, as part of an ongoing Metropolitan Police investigation into Islamist-related terrorism. He was subsequently released on bail while police continued their investigation.

On August 5, Choudary, 48, and an associate, Mohammed Rahman, 32, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court and were charged with repeatedly violating Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 between June 2014 and March 2015.

Addressing the court, Sue Hemming, the head of special crime and counter-terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service, said:

"It is alleged that Anjem Choudary and Mohammed Rahman invited support for ISIS [also known as the Islamic State] in individual lectures which were subsequently published online. We have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to prosecute Anjem Choudary and Mohammed Rahman."

When asked by the judge to indicate how he would plead, Choudary said: "Cameron and the police are guilty." The judge replied that he took that to mean that he would be pleading not guilty. Choudary will remain in police custody until August 28, when he is set to appear at the Old Bailey, the Criminal Court of England and Wales. If convicted, Choudary faces up to ten years in prison.

Until now, Choudary, a lawyer by training, has managed to avoid prison by treading the fine legal line between the inflammatory rhetoric of Islamic supremacism and the right to free speech. He has never been convicted of any offense.

Choudary is the former leader of the Muslim extremist group, al-Muhajiroun (Arabic: "The Emigrants"). Al-Muhajiroun, which celebrated the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001, was banned in January 2010.

Since then, al-Muhajiroun has repeatedly reinvented itself under an array of successor aliases. These include, among others: Islam4UK, Call to Submission, Islamic Path, Islamic Dawa Association, London School of Sharia, Muslims Against Crusades and Need4Khalifah, all of which have also been banned.

A study published by the London-based Henry Jackson Society in September 2014 found that one in five terrorists convicted in Britain over more than a decade have had links to al-Muhajiroun.

A report published by the British anti-extremist group Hope Not Hate in November 2013 concluded that al-Muhajiroun was "the single biggest gateway to terrorism in recent British history."

Al-Muhajiroun is said to have also played a major role in radicalizing Michael Adebolajo, who was found guilty of murdering (and attempting to decapitate) the British soldier Lee Rigby outside London's Woolwich Barracks in May 2013.

Choudary said Rigby would "burn in hellfire" as a non-Muslim, and also praised Adebolajo as a "martyr." He said:

"Allah said very clearly in the Koran 'Don't feel sorry for the non-Muslims.' So as an adult non-Muslim, whether he is part of the Army or not part of the Army, if he dies in a state of disbelief then he is going to go to the hellfire.

"That's what I believe so I'm not going to feel sorry for non-Muslims. We invite them to embrace the message of Islam. If they don't, then obviously if they die like that they're going to the hellfires."

Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary (right) praised one of the murderers of British solider Lee Rigby (left) as a "martyr" and said Rigby would "burn in hellfire" as a non-Muslim.

Police say that Choudary's rhetoric has become more incendiary since June 2014, when the Islamic State proclaimed itself to be an Islamic Caliphate, a theocracy ruled according to Sharia law. Since then, police say, Choudary has repeatedly crossed the legal threshold for criminal prosecution for encouraging terrorism, such as justifying the beheading of the American journalist, James Foley, and the British aid worker, Alan Henning.

Choudary believes that the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is "the caliph of all Muslims" and that Shariah law will eventually "be in command even in America and in Britain and in China and in Russia and everywhere else."

The expansion of the Caliphate, the global implementation of Sharia law and Islamic supremacism are common themes in Choudary's Twitter universe, where -- through a daily barrage of anti-Western tweets -- he repeatedly admonishes his nearly 33,000 followers to avoid assimilating into British culture.

"The cycle of violence that we find ourselves in can be resolved. Muslims, Christians & Jews can live peacefully under Shari'ah! #Chattanooga."

Choudary, who was born in the UK, has also explained how he feels about his British citizenship:

"We are Muslims first and Muslim last. Passports are no more than travel documents. If you are born in a barn that doesn't make you a horse!!"

Choudary, who is married and has four children, enjoys a comfortable lifestyle that is being paid for, year after year, by British taxpayers. In 2010, the newspaper The Sunreported that he takes home more than £25,000 (€35,000; $38,000) a year in welfare benefits.

In February 2013, Choudary urged his followers to quit their jobs and claim unemployment benefits so that they could have more time to plot holy war against non-Muslims. He said Muslims are entitled to welfare payments because they are a form of jizya, a tax imposed on non-Muslims in countries run by Muslims. According to Sharia law, the jizya is a reminder that non-Muslims are permanently inferior and subservient to Muslims.

"We [Muslims] take the jizya, which is ours anyway. The normal situation is to take money from the kuffar [non-Muslim]. They give us the money. You work, give us the money, Allahu Akhbar. We take the money."

Meanwhile, Choudary's Twitter followers have threatened violence unless he is released. In one tweet, a supporter used the hashtag #FreeAnjemChoudary with a picture of Big Ben and the flag of the Islamic State. Another tweet said: "The black days is coming to Britain if it doesnt [sic] release the Muslims." Yet another said: "O Allah! Whoever has harmed them, then harm him, n whoever has shown enmity to them, then show enmity to them." And another: "The shariah of Allah is the only solution for UK. #democracy is rotten."

According to data compiled by an online analytics company, the hashtag #FreeAnjemChoudary was shared nearly 600 times in first the 24 hours after Choudary's detention, potentially reaching 700,000 people. The data shows that most of Choudary's supporters are living in the West: 69% of Choudary's supporters are tweeting from Britain, Canada and the United States, and another 10% tweeting from Australia.

Choudary says he is not afraid of going to prison, which he describes as a fertile ground for gaining more converts to Islam. "If they arrest me and put me in prison, I will carry on in prison," he warned. "I will radicalize everyone in prison."

Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-basedGatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him onFacebook and onTwitter.

Comment on this item

18 Reader Comments

Flashman • Dec 9, 2015 at 22:45

His Twitter followers should each be questioned.

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Balaji • Sep 10, 2015 at 11:31

It is a pity that we are too lenient on hard core radicals like Anjem Choudary. Why are we so civilized towards uncivilized people such as him? Send him to Guantanamo and let Americans 'take care' of him.

Once uppon a time Britain had the choice to live up to its Judeo-Christian heritage, its international obligations and its obligation to its own policies stated in the San Remo Conference. All it had to do was to allow the Jewish people access to their ancestral homeland to rebuild the Jewish National Home as in the Balfour Declaration. Perfidous albion reneged on obligations, condemned 10 million Jews to death and exile, all to appease radical Islam head honcho Amin al Husseini, Hitler's best pal. Since then Britain is going down the tubes. It lost the Mandate. Lost India. Lost the Commonwealth. Lost the Suez Canal. Lost its industry, and now is being invaded by the very same Radical Islam it pandered to. Unless Britain takes a very quick U-turn, to re-affirm its commitment and action to the Jewish State, to the Judeo-British pact it will be over-run by the Islamic State.

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Stan Lee • Aug 9, 2015 at 21:09

I have wondered how long Britannia would allow Choudary & Co. as much latitude as he's already had. Speaking against the UK government and its laws by Choudary has been encouraged by an ultra PC government which apparently values that "stiff upper lip" that was so-much Britannia for so long. But, this British characteristic was effective when Britons were proud of British history and accomplishments, when Britons could be jovial, but unyielding in defense of their motherland.

It is by accidental good fortune that British authorities have caught up with Choudary and his rabble-rousing against the state. The problem seems to me that very vocal imams like Choudary have played the UK like a violin, hurling one insult after another as they perceive what they believe is weakness of the people, simply because British law doesn't silence confrontational Muslim preachers as authorities in Islamic countries would. He would be, by now, a faint memory if he was such an anti-state activist in any of the Islamic countries.

However, in the UK he can instigate all he wants, incite literal mayhem and murder and be untouchable for all his hate-preaching. All he has to do is harangue as he's done, he does get a platform to do so. He doesn't have to commit even one act of physical violence, all he needs to do is remove the minds of Muslim followers who've been conditioned by interpretations of the Koran as he stokes the fire. For whom does such British liberalism benefit? Certainly not Britons absolutely loyal to their country.

What is he doing in the UK? Is the UK compelled to leave him at liberty to potentially foment violence against the UK Anglo element of the population? Why is he still in the UK? Is the UK obligated to allow Choudary a free pass to continue his undermining of British life?By now, his tutelage has most likely produced a crop of would-be imams to spread his propaganda even further. He is only the beginning.

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NightandDay • Aug 9, 2015 at 19:39

It's long overdue for the British government to stop letting this brutish loudmouth (and others of his ilk) get away with leeching off British taxpayers for years. Why has it taken so long for them to stop acting as if their hands were tied? The French managed to deport some 1400 imams last year due to their inflammatory preaching!

In the UK, most longtime unemployed people have to attend their local unemployment office on a regular basis to show all their job applications for the past X number of weeks. At a certain point (in theory), they're usually given an ultimatum and government can stop their benefits if they suspect the individual is not playing by the rules.

Choudary's public speaking has been inflammatory for years, as was Abu Hamza before him. Yet the government claims of powerlessness continue. It's possible of course, they're afraid of enraging Choudary's followers. In similar past situations, such as when Geert Wilders was invited to speak at the House of Lords, the government gave in to Muslim threats of massive demonstrations and refused him permission to even enter the country -- as if he were the greater threat. Appeasement never ends well!

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Barbara Would • Aug 9, 2015 at 18:22

I am always interested in their opinion, even if I don't like it!Very interesting how they justify extortion and murder!Loved the barn comment, it confirms to me how treacherous and dangerous radical Muslims are!I support "Freedom of Speech".

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Ericb • Aug 9, 2015 at 16:20

Why is this man still being given benefits?

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Ed in North Texas Ericb • Aug 13, 2015 at 07:06

I understand that as a subject of the Queen, born in Britain, he can't simply be deported. Perhaps an inventive bureaucrat could determine that his statements regarding citizenship were an effective renunciation of his British citizenship and ship his sorry butt off to ISIS.

Short of that, his welfare benefits should be terminated on either obtaining employment or his failure to engage in gainful employment. The taxpayers should be up in arms about such abuse of the social welfare system, demanding change to eliminate the possibility that Choudary could encourage followers to quit their jobs and gain unending welfare benefits.

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Frank Adam • Aug 9, 2015 at 15:31

Passports might be only a travel document but as such they are also a letter of introduction and give your secular nation.Anjem Choudary and others might be dismissive of states and citizenship, passports and nationality; but the Moslem world is riven with nations and tribes and is nowhere as united and unified as he pretends. Accordingly, he should be more careful than to sow the wind -- he might, as Bomber Harris noted about the German blitz, reap the whirlwind!

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Armando Stavole • Aug 9, 2015 at 13:04

As a freemason I stand for the tolerance, good-understanding, so for a democratic system. This doesn't mean to be acquiescent and consider an expression of free opinion a persistent menace to my way of life, till my annihilation.

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K Jefferson • Aug 9, 2015 at 10:47

In December 1999 I attended a "debate", if you could call it that, at the Friend's Meeting House near Euston. It had been publicised by Premier Radio and featured Jay Smith taking up the challenge of Al Mujaharoun to debate the motion "Christianity or Islam the solution for the new millennium "o.w.t.t.e." I knew very little about Islam at the time but I recognised Omar Bhakri and Abuhamza Hamza. Choudary was there but at the time I did not know of him. He my have been a key speaker. During what purported to be a Q + A session and in response to the question "Why are you here in the UK if disagree so much with our values?", I witnessed this direct response. "We are here to take London, the UK and Europe for Islam!!!". What has the UK government been doing for the last 15 years ?

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Wallace Schwam • Aug 9, 2015 at 10:46

It's clear from Choudary's remarks that he's a Bibliolator. That's a person who places the authority of the printed word over a real interaction with God. This is just another form of idolatry.

The ancient printed word, of whatever religion examined, reflects the experience of another! In fact, it's usually indirect experience since the chronicler is writing about something that's happened to someone else rather than to himself. Holy books can inspire, lead to despair or both. However, they always represent filtered experience. In Choudary's case, he cites an old text as the perfect excuse for murder. Murder by any name is still murder.

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John Miller • Aug 9, 2015 at 08:49

When will the blind British Government, headed by David Cameron, open its eyes and face up to the truth. Islam means "submission" and that is what it demands, nothing more nothing less. Western democracy is sleep walking to disaster.

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Fred • Aug 9, 2015 at 08:45

Choudary has found a platform to preach his hatred and get paid for it by the UK Gov. He boasts himself about the easy money and other luxuries he is being given by the welfare system. He is part of the colonialists who invaded Europe from the Middle East & Africa dressed as "Migrants". The poor and downtrodden who can hardly wait to get their hand on the milk & honey of the welfare system. After destroying their own countries it's Europe's turn to be destroyed. Choudary knows his destiny to show ingratitude & hatred.

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Lia • Aug 9, 2015 at 08:04

The only good idea Mr Choudary has ever had is to ban the ethically & morally bankrupt UN.

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John MacArthur • Aug 9, 2015 at 08:02

This man is dangerous. He has operated very close to the wire for years and finally the case against him should be watertight, which is why he has been allowed to operate for so long apparently unhindered. I find it interesting that banner headlines from the British Press have been comparatively absent, suggesting that he has been systematically allowed to hoist himself with his own petard. And, not before time. The next hurdle will be if (and one sincerely hopes, when) convicted, he will be prevented from engaging in radical activity in jail.

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Jayell • Aug 9, 2015 at 06:58

"We are Muslims first and Muslim last. Passports are no more than travel documents. If you are born in a barn that doesn't make you a horse!!" — Anjem Choudary.

Well, we all knew about the first bit already. Muslims are only loyal to themselves or their own little Islamic clique. But as for "If you are born in a barn that doesn't make you a horse!!" — Choudhary's ignorance of English amazes me considering he's supposed to have been born in the UK (unfortunately). (Well, it doesn't really amaze me - the man's an ignorant buffoon).

The English saying actually goes 'If you are born in a STABLE it doesn't make you a horse'; i'e', HORSES are associated with STABLES. BARNS are storage places for things like Hay and Corn and the like. If you are born in a barn it's because you have no house, which means by inference you're a bit disreputable. So maybe Choudhary WAS born in a barn?

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